One of the games I wanted to get my hands on the most at this years E3 was Mass Effect 2. I was fortunate enough to sit down with EA rep and get some hands on action. I was really trying to keep my eyes open for texture delays between sequences and happily I couldn’t find any. There are some really nice changes to the combat system. You can now assign individual way points for your teammates and they don’t seem to get in the way as they could in the first one. You can also queue up an ability in the talent wheel and just hit a button during combat to use that ability. Likewise for Shepard. You can also equip yourself with a heavy weapon now. Of course you can only carry one at a time and it sounds like you choose which one when you exit the Normandy. The new hit system is nice and something I wanted to test during the demo. There are actual head shots now. At one point I shot out a androids legs out from under him and he fell to the ground and started crawling towards me.

I asked about DLC for the sequel and it sounds like we can certainly expect to see more than just one available download. Although the exhibitor I spoke with also hinted at another mission that will be released for Mass Effect, a prequel to Mass Effect 2.

With any sequel it’s a difficult balancing act between giving the player something new and exciting without losing the things that made the game so great to begin with. From what I saw and played they really nailed that balance. So until its release in Q1 2010, keep an eye out for that prequel mission.